


Sought

by supras



Category: One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF
Genre: Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-23 01:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2529317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supras/pseuds/supras
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do not picture your OTP having a kid and losing said kid in a ball pit." </p>
<p>Or, the one in which Nick and Harry lose their four year old in a ball pit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sought

**Author's Note:**

> uhm yeah.

Nick wanders back to where Harry is sitting on one of the overstuffed leather sofas in a designated parent area, a cup of tea clasped in each hand. He hands him one of the paper cups and takes the space he'd left a few minutes before when he'd suddenly decided tea would be the answer to the headache that's taking up residence behind his eyes. 

Harry takes the cup with one hand and reaches up with the other to run his fingers through Nick's hair when his head slumps on his shoulder. It's a testament to how poorly Nick is feeling that he doesn't protest, and Harry knows it, turning his head to press a kiss to his temple. 

"Are you sure you don't want to leave?" Harry asks him for what feels like the hundredth time since they arrived less than an hour ago. 

Nick looks up at the towering climbing centre in front of them and shakes his head against Harry's shoulder. He sits up then to take a sip of his tea before speaking. 

"Wouldn't be fair to Wins. I'm alright." 

Harry gives him a sympathetic look of understanding and motions at him to replace his head. So Nick does, closing his eyes, as Harry keeps watch for their daughter if she needs them. Harry continues to pet Nick's hair, causing Nick to press his face into his neck and sigh. It's been such a long week, month, year. 

The little girl comes barreling towards them some five minutes later, zooming down a large slide before she skips over, eyes wide and gleaming. 

"Daddy, Papa, come play in the ball pit with me!" she requests as she clambers into Harry's lap. 

"Papa doesn't feel well, but I'll come," Harry tells her with a bright smile as Nick lifts his head again so Harry can stand. Harry swings the little girl to the ground, but she stays still and frowns at her other father. 

"Papa, what's wrong?" she asks, a concerned wrinkle in her brow and looking far too old for four. 

"Just a headache, love," Nick says and reaches out to smooth her forehead with his thumb. "Have fun with Daddy." 

Winnie gives him a hesitant look, but at when Harry offers his hand and a smile, she takes it and allows herself to be led to the ball pit.

Nick looks after them fondly as they walk away, Winnie's tiny hand in Harry's large one, swinging between them. Then he closes his eyes again and sinks into the sofa. 

He must doze off because the next thing he knows, Harry is standing in front of him, eyes wide in panic and looking nearly crazed. 

"Did Winnie come back to you?" Harry asks before Nick can ask him what's wrong. 

"No?" 

"Fuck," Harry breathes and runs both hands through his hair. 

Nick feels the panic swell in his chest, crashing over him like a wave. A chill begins beneath his ribs and quickly spreads outwards until he feels entirely cold with fear. Suddenly his headache is gone. 

"Haz, where's Winnie?" 

"I don't know!" Harry half shouts, drawing the attention of other parents around them. Nick can hear it already, heavy in their judgmental glances - oh look at the celebrities who _lost their kid_. "I tripped and went under the balls and when I came up she wasn't there and I called for her and she didn't come out!" 

Nick is going to be ill, violently so, but Harry is on the verge of tears and one of them has to be the sane, calm one. So he pulls himself to his feet and puts a hand on Harry's shoulder to turn him in the direction of the check-in desk. 

"Relax, she can't have gone far," he says, mostly to convince himself. This is a place full of climbing equipment, nooks and crannies for small children to hide in. It also has a policy that no one is allowed in without registering, and no one is allowed out with a child they did not enter with. Winnie has to be here  _somewhere_. "We'll find her." 

Harry is trembling under his fingers, swaying on his feet and Nick wraps an arm around him, waving down a centre employee with the other. 

"How can I help you?" the young woman asks, eyes sweeping over the two of them and coming to rest on Harry's stricken face. "Lose your little one?" 

Harry nods earnestly. 

"Her name is Winnie, she's four, she likes giraffes." 

Nick doesn't know how Winnie's love of giraffes has anything to do with her being lost for the moment, but he rubs a hand down Harry's arm as the centre employee offers them a kind smile. 

"Don't worry, we'll find her," she promises. "Where did you see her last?" 

The begin their search at the ball pit, enlisting the help of two other employees who expertly duck into the entrance of the main climbing apparatus to wind through the maze and help look. 

Nick slips out of his shoes and steps into the ball pit, feet grappling for purchase as he sinks in. The arch of his foot catches on a ball and he pitches forward, falling headfirst underneath the balls. In any other circumstances he'd laugh, and if Winnie were here she would too. It's like swimming through gelatin as he attempts to clamber back to his feet, and only with Harry grabbing onto his waist and hoisting him up does he manage it. He doesn't know how Harry is standing if he's honest. 

The pit itself is massive, the size of the swimming pool at the centre where Winnie has her swim lessons. Nick's certain if he threw a ball it wouldn't hit the other wall. There are children everywhere, shrieking and throwing balls and diving under to create cascades of brightly coloured plastic. 

"You check the far end," Harry says and turns to stumble in the opposite direction, shuffling his feet along the padded bottom of the pit so he doesn't fall. 

Nick goes as directed, taking careful steps and looking every which way for the Winnie's familiar dark curls. 

 "'Scuse me," he mumbles when he nearly trips over a little boy, who gives him an indignant look.

Nick's not proud of the way he glares back. But, desperate times.

"Winifred Anne, you can come out now!"

He says it gently, because if Winnie is around and gets wind that he's upset she'll just keep away. Like her father she is, avoiding conflict.

There's a rustle a few metres ahead of him, near the corner of the pit, and suddenly Winnie is popping up looking puzzled.

"Papa, I thought you weren't coming to play! I thought I could only play hide and seek with Daddy!"

Hide and seek.  _Hide and seek._

Nick is too relieved to care as he stumbles forward and scoops his daughter up into his arms, holding her tight to his chest. Of course she thought it was a game, what with her and Harry and Nick playing hour long games of hide and seek around the house.

"Your Daddy couldn't find you, you're so good at hiding," he tells her carefully, trying to school his face into something that doesn't resemble that weird mix of utter relief and panic he still feels. He turns to look over his shoulder to find Harry. "Haz, I've got her!" 

Harry looks up from where he'd been searching, eyes wide. He immediately takes off as quickly as he can towards his family, which only causes him to lose his balance and tumble into the balls. Winnie giggles in Nick's arms, and Nick can't help but join in, taking careful steps over to his husband. They meet in the middle and Harry presses a quick kiss to Winnie's forehead. 

"Winnie, why did you hide, Daddy was so worried I'd lost you -" 

"That's what you do in hide and seek," Winnie replies, giving him a long, level look. 

Harry chokes on a laugh and lets himself slump against Nick's shoulder this time. 

"Right you are, baby girl." 

"Maybe no hide and seek in public places, though?" Nick suggests. "Only at home? Where we know where you are?" 

Winnie scrunches her nose at the idea but nods agreeably. 

"Only at home." 


End file.
